TAAG Angola Focuses on South Africa as Strategic Cargo Market

TAAG Angola Airlines has identified South Africa as a key strategic market for the airline’s growing cargo business development.

As such, the airline’s Cargo Director Sajid Khan, Deputy Director Caetano Quibuba and Division Manager José Mpasi will attend Air Cargo Africa, holding from 21 to 23 February in Johannesburg, South Africa.

“South Africa is a key market within our cargo strategy and operational footprint. In 2022 we transported approximately 1,632,000 kg of miscellaneous goods/cargo from Johannesburg to different parts of the world, and the trend is to increase the volume of cargo and demand for our services,” says Khan.

According to Khan, South Africa currently exports a vast range of goods. The country is also the departure and arrival focal point for cargo pick-up and drop-off from across the continent. TAAG is a key distributor connecting intra-African markets and intercontinental cargo hubs.

TAAG cargo network connects multiple countries, including Mozambique (Maputo), Sao Tome, Namibia (Windhoek), Angola (Luanda), Nigeria (Lagos), South Africa (Johannesburg, Cape Town), Portugal (Lisbon), Spain (Madrid), Italy (Rome), Brazil (Sao Paolo) and Cuba (Havana).

TAAG is currently the only operator in the southern hemisphere to connect Africa with South America. The airline is taking active steps to re-launch routes to and from China.

Re-establishing the routes with China will allow TAAG to offer long-haul links from Asia (China) - Africa (South Africa) and South America (Brazil), with Angola (Luanda) as a stopover.

The airline’s cargo operations are expected to grow exponentially once Angola’s new state-of-art international airport go live. This milestone is earmarked for 2024 and will be a game-changer leveraging the connectivity within the Africa Austral region.

The new airport cargo infrastructure is projected to be able to handle 50 000 Tons per year and 15 000 000 passengers per year.

“Cargo segment is nowadays strategic for TAAG with a rising contribution to the company’s sustainability. Thus, I see positive synergies and benefits for the business regarding the New Luanda International Airport, Drº. António Agostinho Neto going live in the next years,” says Eduardo Fairen, CEO of TAAG.

The TAAG team is excited to attend Africa’s leading industry exhibition and conference to network with African cargo industry leaders and key strategic partners, strengthen networking corridors with the African continent, learn about industry trends and highlight TAAG’s cargo destinations to a global audience.

Air Cargo Africa will be held from 21 to 23 February in Johannesburg, South Africa.